There were glimpses of its abundant natural beauty. Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar contributed to the soundtrack . Onstage, there were more Californians than you'd see at a farmers market on a Saturday morning in Pasadena.
One glaring omission from the happy parade: Gavin Newsom .
The Democratic governor had a brief cameo role delivering the state's delegates to the vice president, in a ceremonial vote that ratified Harris as the party's presidential nominee. (The balloting that mattered took place two weeks prior, in a five-day round of online voting conducted soon after President Biden dropped out of the race.)
That was it for Newsom.
Convention planners wanted him to kick off Monday night's prime-time programming , but the governor begged off. Couldn't make it on time, he said. Children starting a new school year, he explained — though it's not hard to imagine attending orientation and still making it to the United Center, which is less than a dozen miles from Chicago's Midway Airport.
Also notably absent was California's U.S. senator-in-waiting , Rep. Adam B. Schiff, who, alongside Newsom, is one of the most politically prominent Californians not named Harris or Nancy Pelosi . Schiff also was offered a speaking slot, but had a long-standing family commitment that kept him away from the convention.
One difference, of course, is that Schiff never had the fraught relationship with Harris that Newsom does.
It's hardly a secret the governor very much wished he was in Harris' shoes. Throughout the week he wore the tight smile of a disappointed runner-up; the kind you see at the Oscars when they flash on the best actor nominees just before pulling away to show the winner take the stage.
The governor and vice president, both products of San Francisco's elbows-out political culture , have been running side by side for more than two decades. They shared many of the same donors and the same geographic base. For a time, they had the same team of campaign strategists.
Newsom told The Times' Taryn Luna that talk of a sibling rivalry between the two highly competitive, highly ambitious political climbers was "a stupid construct."
But it's true.
Like siblings, the two have a history of happy times, hard feelings, jealousy and mutual aid.
Newsom made the rounds of media interviews in Chicago, saying all the right things.
"You'll see me plenty out on the campaign trail" stumping for Harris, the governor told Fox News.
"In 2028, I look forward to reelecting Kamala Harris," he said on NBC, forswearing any interest whatsoever in a future run for president. "In 2032, I hope to be walking without a cane."
It was curious, then, to hear an interview released a day after Democrats closed up shop in Chicago, wherein Newsom sarcastically referred to the "30-minute" convention that yielded Harris as the Democratic nominee.
“We went through a very open process, a very inclusive process," he joked on the "Pod Save America" podcast. "It was bottom-up, I don’t know if you know that. That’s what I’ve been told to say!”
Did Newsom let slip what he really thought about Harris' insta-elevation to lead the Democratic ticket? Or was the governor just playing loosey-goosey as he hung with the podcast bros?
If Harris is elected president in November, the checkmated governor's political ambitions will almost certainly be placed on hold for at least the next four years. If she loses, it's not hard to imagine Newsom running as one of many candidates in a crowded field helping lead the resistance to President Trump and pledging to rebuild and revivify a devastated Democratic Party.
In the meantime, he's a got a day job: running the most populous, diversified and unwieldy state in the union.
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